Much of the construction of buildings in the industrialized world, particularly in the United States, is of three types, wood frame and various kinds of material, including wood to cover the framework, heavy (red iron) steel, usually used in combination with concrete for framing and a variety of other materials to cover the same, frequently concrete block, and light gauge steel used similarly to wood framing as mentioned above. On larger buildings, a prestressed concrete frame may be covered by glass, marble, stone, or the like. In all of the above cases, insulation, which has become ever more important in an increasingly energy conscious world, is frequently supplied as a separate layer to the interior and the exterior of the outside structure above described. When the covering material is concrete block, there is typically no insulation installed.
In order to achieve economies in the cost of construction, various efforts have been made to utilize prefabricated materials. An excellent example in prefabrication is with mobile homes which are simply transported to the residence site, and then permanently fixed to a foundation. Other types of pre-fabricated or partially prefabricated construction methods are also well known such as A-frame homes that are frequently used in rural areas as vacation retreats. There have also been very sophisticated structures such as geodesic dome type structures of a type advocated by the well known American inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller. Examples of United States patents of this species either by Fuller or his associates are U.S. Pat. No. 2,682,235 for a geodesic dome, U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,717 for a paper board dome, U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,113 for a plydome, U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,074 for a catenary (geodesic tent), and other similar references such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,521, U.S. Pat. No. 3,139,957, U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,927, U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,144, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,336.
Another reference which pursues the notion of a building component utilizing a panel is Zeihbrunner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,502 which teaches a panel construction element and building construction system employing such elements. That reference illustrates a profile frame and a filler material with cover panels that cover both the filler material and the profile frame. The frame includes a complex cross-section of a type fabricated using an extrusion, which, in turn, leads to a substantially more expensive structure than that provided by the present invention without the interlocking advantages of concrete of the present invention.
Similarly, efforts have been made to provide methods of construction using modular building components which produce building walls combining the coverage of area with insulation benefits. Several of these include two patents to Meyerson, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,769,963 and 5,086,599, both of which involve utilizing an expanded polymeric material taken in combination with aluminum sheet to produce a building panel with excellent insulation properties in a light weight construction component. To the extent that an expanded polymeric material is utilized in these references, they bear some resemblance to the present invention. However, the resulting walls lack any significant structural strength because they are merely the combination of flat and folded aluminum or similar type material in combination with the expanded polymeric material.
Nemmer, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,634, issued on Jan. 6, 1987, discloses a building side wall construction panel and method. Nemmer includes foam cores connected edge to edge by connecting studs, the studs being two C-shaped channels welded back-to-back. To assemble Nemmer, the studs are secured upright and the foam cores are slid vertically downward into the open C-shaped sides of the studs. A problem with the Nemmer method is that a workman would have to carry tall and possibly unwieldy foam cores to roof level and try to jam their edges into and all the way downward along the stud C-channels to the level of the foundation. This precarious procedure is difficult and places the workman at risk. The double C-shape stud design makes it impossible for the workman to set the cores individually into place from ground level.
Switzerland Patent Number 396,368 teaches an interior wall panel assembly. The back-to-back C-shaped studs require either the procedure set forth in Nemmer where cores are forced downward from roof level, or pre-fabrication of the entire wall in a horizontal plane followed by tilting the wall upright. A complete wall would be heavy and dangerously cumbersome for one or even several workmen to lift upright and position properly. Such a complete wall, if assembled off site, would also be prohibitively bulky and unwieldy to transport.
A rough translation of Switzerland patent 396,368 indicates that it discloses an interior panel which is not load-bearing. "It is quite known to use (provide) gauge frame and panel elements to build interior walls." Switzerland '368 patent, line 1. There is apparently no teaching that the panels (11, 12, 13, 14) are "rigid", and indeed they would not need to be rigid to function as non-load-bearing interior dividers or wall panels.
Finally, Bader, U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,133 teaches a method of building a composite assembly that may be utilized for the construction of building walls using steel in an interlocking relationship with an expanded polymeric material such as polystyrene or polyurethane. The steel provides strength in both tension and compression as in the present invention, while the expanded polymeric material provides thermal and sound insulation and substantial support in compression also as in the present invention. However, Bader lacks the strength and load-bearing capability of the present invention that is supplied by concrete that is poured after component placement has taken place.
The present invention relates to a panel building component, method of making same, and method of utilizing same in the construction of walls for a variety of structures and buildings. The preferred principal materials are a unique triplicate of (1) steel for structural strength, (2) an expanded polymeric material such as medium density polystyrene or polyurethane used for thermal and sound insulation, and (3) concrete that is applied in the field after panel placement has occurred. The expanded polymeric material serves the additional function of assisting in properly distributing the concrete in its field installation.
The steel provides strength in both tension and compression, while the expanded polymeric material provides both thermal and sound insulation. The concrete provides additional strength in compression, leading to greater load-bearing capability in combination with ease of construction than any of the prior art. The combination, therefore, provides a high level of structural strength, high insulation effects, and low cost resulting in part from pre-fabrication. The invention further features the ability to utilize external and internal facing materials that provide aesthetics, protection from the elements, functionality, some additional insulation, and minimal construction labor, especially avoiding highly paid skilled labor.
Indeed, the present inventive building component and method produce an excellent substitute for concrete block when the same is used with a prestressed concrete frame, and with the optional exterior and/or interior surfaces. It can also replace the materials normally applied to the exterior and/or interior of concrete block.
The present invention also relates to a building component and method of assembling a load-bearing, insulating building wall which permits two workmen to safely assemble an entire wall without the need for lifting equipment. The inventive load-bearing, insulating partially completed panels of a size and weight which can be carried by two workmen are set upright and secured in place one at a time according to the inventive method, where the concrete is then poured in the assembled panels to complete the structure of a wall.
The fact that partially completed panels are easily handled by two workmen is an extremely important feature of the present invention, because many prior panels have been designed so that they must be assembled into an entire wall before they can be simultaneously uprighted. Such prior methods require heavy equipment, are needlessly awkward to perform, and risk the health of the workmen to complete.